I have a good post about DMR vs BR balance, and since the embargo’s up I figured I’d share lol.
Most of the games I have been playing have been Slayer Pro, so here’s some of my thoughts on BR vs DMR balance for you guys to digest:
Flinching and Bloom:
I feel that it’s pretty significant that zooming in against good players in this game is just not a good idea at anything but extreme range, unless it is for a quick-scope to finish a kill with a headshot. Good players simply hit most if not of their shots in their average firefight, so zooming in too much is pointless because you’re going to flinch like crazy. Because of this, you want to spend most of your time zoomed out.
Now, the DMR’s bloom is more of a factor that people think. Yes, the DMR has a faster kill time than the BR, but to get a 5sk at most common ranges, the bloom will be maxed out after the 4th shot. Thus, getting a headshot consistently without zooming in is impossible at many ranges. The trick is to land 4 body shots, and then quick-scope at the head for the final head shot. In my experience, this is the only way to consistently get a 5sk at anything but close range because the increased autoaim and accuracy you get from being zoomed in are taken advantage of, and you avoid the whole flinching thing at the same time. That being said, if you miss your 5th shot it’s easy to get caught up in a flinchy zoom and be killed before you can get your next shot lined up. It’s just very difficult to do against good players.
At the same time, the BR is almost perfectly accurate - there’s barely any spread, at least at the ranges the game is played at. The BR can be used at most common ranges without having to be zoomed in. This makes it much more consistent and reliable than the DMR at a mid range that I’ll talk about in the last section.
Bleedthrough:
In case everyone didn’t know, the starting rifles do not have bleed through. IMO, this gives a significant disadvantage to the DMR compared to the BR because it makes the BR a bit more effective when it comes to finishing kills and teamshooting (the 3-round burst can pop shields and headshot in the same burst). There are going to be cases where your DMR can’t finish a kill in one shot but the BR can simply because there’s a teenie bit of shield remaining on your target.
This also gives the BR more potential synergy with many other weapons than the DMR. For example, my custom loadout for Infinity games uses a Plasma Pistol’s normal shot spam to lower shields so that my Carbine can get the easy headshot. The BR can be used in this way as well. The DMR however, can not, because the 3 shots to lower shields that I am going for still leave a bit of shields to bleed through - it’s going to take an extra shot. I’ve seen this happening with many other weapons found on the map as well - when you pick up a second weapon, it’s many times better to have a BR than a DMR.
Effective Ranges Comparison:
With all of this said and done, feel that the flinching and bloom factors of the DMR are the most significant factors that determine which weapons are more powerful at specific ranges. Here is my current opinion:
*The DMR is advantaged at close ranges where headshots can be landed consistently without zooming, thus consistently avoiding the flinch factor and allowing the DMR to kill faster.
*The BR is advantaged at close-mid ranges where the DMR is forced to zoom and deal with flinching in order to consistently get headshots, while the BR can consistently and effective land headshots without zooming.
*The DMR is again advantaged at mid ranges+ where the BR is forced to zoom in order to avoid landing partial burts, forcing both weapons to deal with flinching and allowing the DMR to kill faster.
As you can see, flinching is a big factor in the balance between these two weapons in the current metagame. Could players learn to ignore flinching in the future? Possibly, but I still think that in practical gameplay where no one is perfect, flinching will continue to be a factor. We shall see.
Now, I think that the flinching mechanic is dumb, but from my experience it really doesn’t ruin the game or anything. I do, however, feel that 343 doesn’t understand how it effects gameplay and weapon balance. If it does break the game, it will be because 343 failed to realize how players would play with flinching in the game, such as quick-scoping to headshot for example.